I'm Old, Not an Arcobaleno
by Anubis Enfield
Summary: Dying wasn't fun. Just alive one minute then nothing the next. Now, I was dead and there WASN'T nothing. I'd been reborn with narcolepsy. And I, the newly reborn Takeo Hideyoshi was sitting directly beside Tsuna from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. And did I mention? I'm a boy now. Just how bad is this going to get?
1. Chapter 1

**Wanted to put a twist on the whole 'rebirth' thing, and was interested in narcolepsy. I don't _have_ narcolepsy, so if anything's wrong, please correct me. All the info i got, i looked up.**

* * *

Dying wasn't fun. Of course, most would assume so. That's probably why it's natural for human beings to be afraid of it. Death is something that happens every day, but the moment it happens to you, it always comes at a shock. You think things like, 'no, it's too soon', 'I'm too young to die', 'I should still live'. You know, the usual stuff. I can't blame you. That's what would've went through my head at the moment of my own death. Twenty-six years old, finally out of college and traveling to the good old UK to try and snag a job at the Smithsonian. Things had finally started looking up for me, then the plane I was on just _had_ to have some malfunction over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It was a strange experience, let me tell you. Everything was fine one minute, then the lights went out. People began to panic a little, stewards and stewardesses tried to keep everyone calm, but even _they_ were frightened so nothing really helped. No one had any warning. Just a feeling in your gut that told you we were descending, then a violent jolt.

I suppose it wasn't too bad. I could've felt what happened afterward or I could've died another way, so I was glad the way I died was relatively pain free. It was what happened after that had me worried. Despite my religious parents bring me up in their faith—where some all-powerful God chose whether you went to heaven or hell—I was more of a realist and figured that once you died, that was it. You brain stopped sending signals to your body and your consciousness faded into nothing and that would be it. The end. No thoughts, feelings, or anything else. Just alive one minute then nothing the next. Of course, my friends never accepted this answer when this question was brought up. They always wanted something else. I had always been the 'out of the box thinker', so they wanted something more elaborate. Things like this being a dream of some boy in a coma and when he woke up, it would be over. Or when we died, we would just wake up as ourselves when we were born and live our lives over again as the same person but with no memories of how we lived the last time, and ultimately live our lives a different way before repeating the cycle. Or—their personal favorite—being reborn as someone else in another world or another universe upon dying. Needless to say, I stuck with my answer of nothing happening after death, but now I was beginning to regret it. _Now_ , I was dead and there _wasn't_ nothing.

Well, not _exactly_ nothing. There was warmth, soft murmurs, and I could tell I had a body of some kind, but that was it. I couldn't move much, almost like any signals I tried to get to my limbs would either not reach them at all, or would make them move far faster than I wanted; resulting in me kicking something more than once. It was weird though. Because I slept more often than not and when I _did_ , it was sudden. My body would be just fine one minute, then I was out like a light the next. I didn't mind it too much. Kept me from being bored, but it also kept me from trying to figure out where I was and what exactly was going on. It wasn't until the walls started closing in on me, that I finally grew uncomfortable with my surroundings. Of course that didn't prepare me at all for being pushed out of the warm darkness I had been in and into a freezing room. A wail went out and it took me a moment to realize that it was my _own_ wail and at that point I only cried harder as realization dawned on me. I'd been reborn into a baby.

Large hands passed me to someone who cooed and shushed me to try and stop me crying, and I recognized the voice from the murmurs I heard before. This, I realized, was my new mother. I stopped crying for a bit, opening my eyes finally and trying to see, but everything was blurry and I couldn't see any colors or anything, so I just sniffled and shut my eyes again as I prepared to cry once more. Yeah, sue me. I'm a twenty-six year old crying, but you would be too, if you were in this predicament. The woman though, held me close and I peered my eyes open once more to actually see a bit of her face was in focus. She was a pleasant looking Asian woman with dark (honey-brown, I later discovered) eyes and black hair and I couldn't help but feel captivated as she smiled and cooed at me. That is, until she spoke in a language I recognized; Japanese.

I didn't understand everything she said—something about me being cute—but the realization that I was Japanese made me start crying again up until I fell asleep. It was only later when I woke up at a home that I tried to calm myself down enough to work through what had happened and what I was going to do next. It was obvious I'd been put into an infant's body and that I had a new family, but something had gone wrong, because I still had all my memories of my past life and all twenty-six years of knowledge crammed into my little baby head, made me _quite_ the fussy child for the next week or so. I felt bad for what I was putting my parents through—my father being a rather gruff, black-haired, brown-eyed Japanese man—but that first few weeks were rough for me. I mourned over the fact that I had died in a plane crash and how my family would find out and mourn over me. I mourned over them, because I'd probably never see them again. Then I cried because of the nightmares I had of dying.

Once I had a good cry about it though, I lightened up and did my best to make it up to my new parents.

My father—from what I understood of their babble—was a regular old business man who was gone most of the day and came home in the evening around dinner time. I believe his name was Shindo, but I couldn't be sure. My knowledge of Japanese only came from two years of high school courses and anime. My mother was a simple stay-at-home mom who would clean and bake and play with me on and off throughout the day. Her name, I was certain, was Misaki and she was _more_ than nice enough to me despite my weeks' worth of crying fits. So, to make it up to her, I did my best to keep from crying and only grew a little fussy when I needed a diaper change or I was hungry and such. Though, that brought up a whole _new_ problem, because I _also_ hadn't been born into the same sex body as I had been. That's right folks, I was a little _boy_ , not a little girl. My name should have given me a clue, after all, there probably aren't any Japanese girls named Takeo, but that realization made me cry for another day. I felt horrible for doing that to my parents after promising not to, but that was a tough blow to my poor womanly pride. It was a whole new set of parts that I'd have to figure out how to work, and I was _not_ pleased about that. Though the lack of periods and other fun joys of being a woman would not be missed.

I got used to it and after a few months, my parents came to the realization that I wasn't going to be like the other kids. It was then, after all, that I started showing signs of narcolepsy. It was harder to tell for them when I was younger because I needed so much sleep, but I had realized after the first month or so that suddenly sleeping the way I was, wasn't normal. I couldn't exactly tell them, seeing as I couldn't even get my poor tongue to form words, so I only hoped that they'd realize it sooner or later and at three months old, I was taken to the doctor's to figure out what was wrong and I was diagnosed with narcolepsy. My parents took it rather well, actually. I was a little surprised at how easily they did so, but it wasn't as though I would die from the illness. I just had to be a bit more careful about where I was and what I was doing when I did have my sudden bouts of drowsiness. My parents helped with that quite a bit and often tried to keep me from hurting myself when I started to sit up and crawl around, only to fall asleep and very nearly topple over. They kept a good watch on me after that doctor's appointment though and that guilt of being a bother to them kept me from speaking my first words to them well past my first birthday. Of course, I probably gave them both heart attacks when I finally did speak at nearly two years old, and in a full sentence, no less. All I said though, was…

"Oka-san, I don't like these."

And I gestured to the carrots on my dinner plate. Dinner had been practically forgotten at that point when she started trying to get me to say something more and I had given my father a pleading look, somehow convincing him to save me from her multitude of questions and excited squealing. After that though, she would often continue to pester me into speaking and I would indulge her occasionally. As I grew older though, it was soon time for me to enter elementary school and—after a talk with my teacher about my narcolepsy—I ended up discovering something I would have never expected. The name of my home town where I lived, was called Namimori and a young, brown-haired boy in my class was _the_ Tsunayoshi Sawada from Katekyo Hitman Reborn; a character from an anime I'd watched in my old world when I was a little younger. And I, the newly reborn Takeo Hideyoshi was sitting directly beside him.

* * *

Now, don't get me wrong, my mother did take me out on occasion to the park or out to the grocery store with her, but I never really paid any attention to anyone we may have bumped into there. _Though I think I saw Yamamoto at the park once._ Not only that, but how was _I_ supposed to know that I'd been reborn into an anime? I wouldn't have thought to look out for characters at all, much less when half of my outings with my new mother turned into naps partway through. Which brought me back to my time in elementary school. Despite sitting beside 'Dame-Tsuna', we hardly bothered one another. I was dubbed too quiet and strange by our other classmates and Tsuna actually got along rather well them, unless he was called on in class. It seemed the moment any pressure was put on him, was when he'd grow too nervous to say anything or he'd stutter so bad no one would understand him. That, and he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box and often got wrong answers. None of the kids saw a real need to bully him though. I caught them talking behind his back once or twice, but it was just the usual childish teasing and it didn't seem to be doing much harm. Tsuna was just a shy kid. A _really_ shy kid, but I honestly found him rather cute. _Like a skittish little brown puppy._

Yeah, I know. I'm a boy now. I shouldn't be thinking things like that, but I couldn't help it. My mind was that of a girl and, while I _did_ find some of the girls in class cute, it was more of a reflex. Like when you see kittens playing in a pet store and you can't help but think they're adorable. I was still a twenty-six year old woman (now a thirty-two year old, if you count this life). So I was allowed to find the kids around me cute. As I grew a little older though, I could tell that my child-like body was rebelling against my mature mind and I often had moments were I slipped back into the demeanor of a child. One particular moment was when I turned seven and my mother became very sick.

She ended up spending weeks in the hospital and my father did his best to work _and_ help take care of me, but I tried my best to take care of myself when he was unable to or when he came home from work and just couldn't do much more. When my mother passed away though, any restraint I had on my childish emotions fell apart and I cried for the first time since I was a baby. And not the quite sniffles and whimpers, but full on _ugly_ crying. With snot being wiped on my nice suit and tears streaming down my face, I cried in my father's arms for hours until I couldn't do it anymore. It was a rough time for the both of us, but we managed to push through and I did what I could to try and go back to my usual demeanor, however, it was harder than I thought. I began throwing tantrums in class when someone did something I didn't like and I'd suddenly burst into tears at the smallest things. It wasn't until one fateful day that everything changed.

It was our lunch break at school and I had just managed to wake up from another bout of my narcolepsy and prove to the teacher that I didn't need to stay in to catch up on what I'd slept through—a common occurrence in order for me to keep up with the lessons with my narcolepsy—and I had decided to read a book outside under one of the trees. It was one of my favorite books from my old world that I'd convinced my parents to buy for me in English—which was a shock to them, but they gratefully bought it. I hadn't gotten far into it though, before I heard childish jeering and I spotted a group of boys kicking dirt at someone on the ground. Upon spotting a fluffy brown head of hair, something in me snapped and I rushed over to the group before punching one of the boys in the face. Rash, yes. Reckless, most definitely. In fact, I stared at my little throbbing fist in shock as soon as I had done that in disbelief. I'd lost control of my young body thanks to the surge of adrenaline and I'd just punched a little boy in the face.

My older mentality panicked, forgetting that I myself was a child and I struggled to say something or do something, but a little fist colliding with _my_ face knocked me out of it. I fell back into the dirt and winced at the pain in my nose, before one of the other boys tackled me to the ground and we began wrestling and fighting one another. There was shouting from the other kids as the three boys who'd been attacking Tsuna teamed up against me instead, but I'd done some minor self-defense before in my past life as a requirement for the security job I'd picked up before trying to get to England; and I was using that to try and give me the upper hand. Problem was, I wasn't the lithe woman I had been and in this smaller body, many of those tricks I'd learned were useless. Thankfully, a couple of teachers had finally noticed what was happening and separated us before we were all brought to a class room for them to hear the story of how this happened. Of course, it was three versus one, so it was obvious who would get into more trouble.

"We were just playing!"

"T-Then h-h-he hit me!"

"W-We didn't do anything! H-He started it!" They wailed, tears running down some of their faces as I wiped the tissue I'd received under my bleeding nose with a frown.

"Takeo-kun, is this true?" The teacher asked and I didn't bother turning to her.

"They were picking on Tsuna-san." I grumbled and she sighed before announcing that I needed to apologize to the boys and sit in the hall until my father came at the end of the school day.

Needless to say, I was severely reprimanded by my teacher in front of my father, who made me personally apologize to the boys and their angry parents. When they left and murmured about my father being a bad parent though, I very nearly rushed out after them to get angry once more for _them_ being the bad parents to allow their kids to pick on someone like Tsuna, but my father stopped me and I knew I was in trouble by the angry gaze he laid on me. Once we got home, I bowed and apologized to him.

"I'm sorry, tou-san."

I stayed bowed and sniffled as my childish emotions took control again, not wanting to have embarrassed my father or be a burden to him after he'd just got out of work, only to have to deal with what happened with me at school. What I didn't expect though, was the heavy hand to land on my head and ruffle my hair.

"It's okay, Takeo. I'm sure you had a reason."

I looked up at him in surprise, getting tongue-tied at his expectant gaze asking me what had _actually_ happened to make me get in a fight.

"I-I, um… T-They were picking on another boy at school and I… sort of lost my temper..."

I shifted my eyes away from his—having never really gotten used to his gruff expression despite him being my father here—and he hummed.

"Your mother wouldn't be happy you got in a fight with some other boys at school."

I flinched at his words, imagining my mother scolding me like she once did about not eating my carrots. _And that was just over vegetables. If it was_ this _, who knows what she would've done._

"However..." My father went on, making me turn back to him in confusion. "...I'm sure she'd be very proud of you to stand up to bullies who were picking on someone."

I felt hope rise in my chest that my father wasn't angry with me—he'd probably be fifty _times_ as scary as my mother would've been—but he soon crushed that hope.

"But resorting to violence is not acceptable." He grumbled, frowning down at me as I felt a shiver rack my spine.

Thirty year old woman or not, my father was scary as hell.

"Sorry, tou-san." I apologized again and he sighed as he went into the kitchen.

"No desert for a week." He announced and I pouted at the punishment as I trailed after him to see what he'd make for dinner and what I could help with. "But I believe you need to be able to protect those close to you, so… if you want… I will sign you up for a self-defense class after school. Though your mother probably wouldn't like it..."

I mentally chuckled at my father's frustrated expression, but then got to thinking about what he said. Because me taking a self-defense class would be a nice way to get stronger, especially if I somehow got dragged into the plot of the show, but then again, I don't think I'd be able to do much. My narcolepsy made me fall asleep at random moments and fighting with that sort of thing probably wouldn't be a good idea. Sure, I was doing better about it and managed to get a nice sleeping schedule down so that I'd be awake most of the day when remaining active, but I still fell asleep in class once or twice a day and who's to say that wouldn't happen smack dab in the middle of a fight? Not only that, but I didn't want to actually _kill_ anyone. While technically the show never had anyone _die_ , per say, they were _defeated_ and that was basically the same thing. Byakuran, for instance, was defeated by being turned to dust. As much as the show didn't want to say it, that was a group of middle schoolers _killing_ someone. And I wouldn't be able to do that. So would taking a self-defense class really be something I want to do? _But it's to protect people. Shouldn't that be a good enough reason to fight back?_ I frowned, coming out of my thoughts when I felt eyes on me and I looked up to see my father watching me with his usual blank expression.

"Your mother's right."

I tilted my head in confusion as he turned back to the stove.

"I think you took after me a little too much."

I blinked, before remembering a conversation my parents had had when I was a little baby, about how I thought too hard and would often stare into space, much like my father. I didn't mind though and I smiled a bit as I bounded up beside him, sitting on a stool, and he passed me a knife to chop up some vegetables.

"Don't tell your mother."

I smiled and nodded, chopping up the veggies with ease with a small glance at the family altar in the other room. We were quiet for some time before he spoke again.

"You don't have to, you know."

"Hm?"

He glanced at me as he put food on the two plates on the table. "Take a self-defense class. It was just a suggestion on my part. I won't force you."

I frowned in contemplation, trying to word my answer before I responded. "I… I want to think about it a bit. I want to, but I want to choose what kind. Is that okay?"

He nodded and said nothing more as we ate our dinner. It was perhaps about a week later that I'd found what I wanted to try out, as far as a self-defense class goes, and I took up bojutsu and judo at a dojo nearby. The bojutsu was my idea—the _least_ dangerous weapon I could learn to use to incapacitate, not kill—and judo was my father's idea. He figured that I could use at least _some_ hand-to-hand combat and I'd rather immobilize my opponent than actually hit them. Once I started up those classes though, my narcolepsy seemed to act up the moment I _wasn't_ physically active. It was rough the first few months, before I drank my father's coffee before school one morning on accident. That seemed to keep me actually awake the rest of the day and I only fell asleep once before my judo class started and once waiting for my father to pick me up from said class. After that, coffee in the morning became a regular thing and my father wasn't too pleased at first, but it soon became something normal.

As I grew older, things started to change bit by bit. By the age of nine I had managed to somehow get my brown belt in judo and had begun training hard to work up to getting my 1st dan black belt. I was more than proficient at bojutsu though and my father had gotten me my own wooden staff that year for my birthday. At eleven years old, however, puberty hit and I don't think I'd _ever_ seen my father that nervous about the 'birds and the bees' talk. I spared him the pain and informed him about already knowing about this, but I _did_ need an explanation about some… other parts and he begrudgingly talked with me about that. I'll save you the details though, and move on. My relationship with Tsuna had progressed, but only slightly and not of my own doing. Mostly.

Basically, after the whole problem with me fighting off the bullies that one time, he'd been afraid of me and would do his usual squeal whenever I even _looked_ in his direction. After a while though, of me not bothering him, he came over and thanked me for standing up to the bullies for him and I responded with a simple 'you're welcome'. We didn't become friends or anything like that though. More like a couple of friendly acquaintances who sometimes hung out during lunch—when I wasn't sleeping or staying in for extra lessons. Of course, this meant that I didn't really make friends either for hanging out and protecting Dame-Tsuna, but I didn't mind. I _was_ , after all, an older woman trapped in the body of an elementary school kid. It would be obvious that I wouldn't be entertained by simple games like tag or hide and seek.

My father actually brought it up once that I should try to make friends, but I had been reading another English-printed book at the time and all I had to do was peek over the top cover of it and raise a brow before he sighed and gave in. And just before I turned twelve, I discovered the middle school I would enter and promptly groaned. _As if it would be anywhere else._ _Namimori Middle School, here I come._


	2. Chapter 2

Shockingly, things went pretty well the first few months of school. For me, anyway. Tsuna had begun to take everyone's words to heart and became even more of a Dame-Tsuna. I felt bad for him, but knew there wasn't much I could do. I'd offer to tutor him or something, but most of my extra time at school was taken up with my sudden bouts of narcolepsy or being caught up on what happened while sleeping. That being said, I did what I could and when the teacher went to call on someone and no one wanted to go up, I'd begrudgingly lift my hand and offer to go so the teacher wouldn't call on Tsuna. I actually think said boy realized I was helping him after a point though, but he never really made any comment on it other than the occasional confused glance or two. _I_ , however, had begun to make friends; albeit reluctantly. They mostly made friends with me, anyhow, though I wasn't too sure about being friends with them at first. Especially since they were _both_ characters from Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Yamamoto was the first person to start talking to me upon entering middle school and somehow found my narcolepsy amusing. I didn't mind. It was better than the alternative where people considered me too cocky to bother paying attention in class and I somehow got good grades anyway. Others just considered me lazy, but not Yamamoto. He simply laughed and said it was funny how I could just doze off randomly the way I did. My other friend, was Kyoko's best friend Hana, and where Hana went, Kyoko usually followed. Hana was a nice change from Yamamoto's giddiness and I liked her blunt nature and quiet demeanor. Kyoko however, just seemed to get on my nerves a little. She was just a _tiny_ bit too dense for my liking, but I dealt with it and she _was_ a rather nice girl so no harm done. Between the three of them, I usually switched around eating lunch with one or the other, or sleeping through it entirely while they chit chatted around me. This frustrated a number of guys, including one Kensuke Mochida. The kendo club captain who liked her. He hadn't tried anything with me yet, but that was probably because I was in the judo club and there were rumors going around that I was going to get my 1st dan this year as well as the story of how I punched that kid in elementary. I knew he wouldn't wait long though, but it didn't bother me too much. I kept my bō on campus anyway and taking him on with that wouldn't be too big of an issue.

Today was an odd day though and the moment I understood what was about to happen, the more I wished I never got involved. After all, it started out normal. I had gotten up and stretched with a cringe at my aching joints thanks to growing pains, then I'd eaten my breakfast and drank my daily dose of coffee before packing my pre-made lunch and stuffing a thermos of said coffee into my bag and heading to school. On my way home after my club and my bojutsu class, I hadn't expected to bump into Kyoko, but walked with her as she chatted about something or another—I wasn't really paying attention since my narcolepsy was about to kick in. I needn't worry though, because we arrived where Mochida happened to be waiting and he angrily grabbed the front of my shirt as he snarled at me.

"Oi! You can't just go walking around with Kyoko like that! Got it?!"

I blinked, not realizing what I was saying until it already came out of my mouth. "She's my friend. I can walk with her if I want."

"Why you—" He was cut off when something flew down out of nowhere and knocked him aside.

That 'something' was actually a 'someone' and Tsuna stood there clad in his boxers with a warm orange flame on his forehead as he confronted Kyoko with a shout.

"Kyoko Sasagawa! Please go out with me!"

She screamed and hurried off before Mochida went to punch Tsuna and I grabbed the back of the boy's shirt and pulled him out of range before glaring at Mochida, who clicked his tongue and hurried off after Kyoko.

"You've got to be kidding me! You hentai!" He shouted back at Tsuna, who dangled from my grip as the flame on his head went out and he started to mentally panic.

It was then, that he noticed I was still holding him up by his collar.

"A-Ah! T-T-Takeo-san!"

I looked down at him and waved a little with my free hand. "Yo. You got me out of some trouble, Sawada-kun. I suppose I should thank you for that, but I seemed to have gotten you out of trouble as well, so I guess we're even." I shrugged and set him down, giving him a once over before I started to head off. "And you might want to put some clothes on. You'll catch a cold."

"Eiiiiii!" He squealed and I smiled a little as I passed by Reborn, forcing myself not to pay him any mind, though I could feel his eyes on the back of my head as I headed home.

The next day though, things only grew more hectic. Word had spread about Tsuna's confession to Kyoko and, try as I might, I doubted that I could even _attempt_ to stop everyone from shouting it out the moment Tsuna walked in the door. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened and he was quickly carried out to the dojo as I begrudgingly headed after the rest of the class while wondering where the teachers were in this situation. Deciding to be prepared, I brought my bō just in case and stood off by the doorway as Mochida faced the frightened Tsuna.

"There you are, you hentai stalker! God may forgive a piece of shit like you, but I won't! I shall smite you!"

"Oh, no!" Tsuna freaked as Mochida smirked.

"Don't worry. It's an easy duel that even an idiot like you can understand. You're a novice at kendo, so if you can get an ippon off me, then you win! If you can't, then I win!"

 _Hm, it's nice he's making it simple for Tsuna since he doesn't know the rules of kendo._ I mentally hummed, before I felt my muscles go slack and I mentally cursed the timing of my narcolepsy. I woke up to Mochida shouting angrily and Tsuna nowhere in sight. Of course, the moment I stood back up again with a yawn, he spotted me and leveled his shinai at my face.

"You! Hideyoshi! Fight me!"

I raised a brow. "Huh?"

"You've been hanging around Kyoko too much and it's about time someone kicked you off your high horse! Sawada ran off, so _you_ can entertain me instead!"

I groaned, but a number of other students in the room cheered and I highly doubted that they'd let me leave, so I took my bō out and begrudgingly stepped into the arena.

"Let's get this over with."

* * *

Tsuna, meanwhile, had just gotten caught by Reborn after running away from his fight with Mochida, and was currently hanging upside-down in a bathroom.

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I'm watching to see if you're acting like a mafia boss." Reborn replied simply, hanging onto the rope holding Tsuna off the ground easily. "It's a chore, but don't worry about it. You and I have a relationship."

"What do you mean a relationship? I'm just worthless, so leave me alone!"

"Don't misunderstand. My relationship with you is as a hitman and a target." Reborn replied, pulling out a gun and aiming it at Tsuna's head.

"W-Wait!"

Reborn tilted his head curiously. "Are you sure? Every second you're here, Takeo Hideyoshi is fighting your battle for you."

"E-Eh?" Tsuna questioned, confused as Reborn explained.

"He's in the dojo fighting the kendo captain instead of you because you ran away."

"H-He wouldn't do that for me." Tsuna muttered, though guilt swirled in his stomach at Reborn's words.

"Find out for yourself. Die."

Reborn shot Tsuna, who collapsed on the ground before his clothes were ripped off and he bolted up with a flame on his forehead.

"No matter what, I will get ippon and help Takeo-san!" He shouted, before dashing off to the dojo where he crashed the doors open. "Ready! Battle!"

The fight between Mochida and Takeo halted—the later lightly bopping Mochida on the head with a quiet announcement of 'ippon' before moving aside as Tsuna rushed over; bypassing the two trying to give him kendo armor. Mochida turned away from Takeo angrily, but upon seeing Tsuna in only his underwear charging at him, he burst out laughing.

"Haha! Only and idiot would run in naked! Did you think I'd hold back? Eat this, you peon!"

He swung his sword down and hit Tsuna in the head, but Tsuna pushed against the sword and headbutt Mochida, who collapsed on the floor. Tsuna then sat on top of him and—much to everyone's surprise—reached down and yanked out hair from Mochida's head.

"I got hyaku-pon!" He shouted, making the audience burst into laughter at his pun as he showed it to the referee. "How's this?!"

The referee, too panicked to raise the flag squeaked as Tsuna went to rip more hair from Mochida, only for a long wooden pole to tap his head lightly. Takeo stood there as Tsuna stared at him and he turned to the referee.

"If you want Mochida to have any hair left, you better raise that flag."

The referee nodded and quickly threw his arm up in the air as the flame went out on Tsuna's head and the students rushed in towards them, cheering.

"Amazing! He actually won!"

"It was crazy, but you looked great!"

"What a guy!"

"It felt good to watch!"

"I have new-found respect!"

Not liking the crowding, Takeo yawned and moved past the students as he headed off to class, not seeing the baby watching him with narrowed eyes, nor when Tsuna began looking for him in the crowd.

* * *

I felt kind of bad for missing Tsuna's volleyball fiasco, but I had forgotten to drink my coffee that morning after sleeping in and nearly being late, so I'd fallen asleep. The next time I saw him other than in class was when I happened to be heading to judo club and I spotted him and Gokudera having a go at one another. I shrugged it off though, knowing that things went fine, and would have headed to my judo class if it wasn't for the three seniors that were in the way and threatening Tsuna.

I sighed. "Oi, can you move? I need to get to my club."

"Eh?" The three turned to me as Tsuna gaped in shock in the background.

"A-Ah! T-Takeo-san!"

I leaned over to the side and waved at Tsuna. "Hello again, Tsuna-san."

"Eiiiii!" He squealed, pointing at the seniors in front of me and I dodged the punch aimed at me before grabbing the back of the student's shirt and shoving him to the ground.

"Ah." I blinked, realizing then what I'd done in front of, not only Tsuna, but Reborn and Gokudera, and I looked down at the stunned senior with his face in the dirt. "Sorry. Reflexes." I turned to the other two seniors then. "Can I go now? I'm going to be late and I'm supposed to get tested today for my 1st dan black belt in judo."

"You bastard!" Another senior shouted, going to hit me, but I dodged, grab the front of his shirt, ducked under him and onto my knees, before pulling him over my shoulder and slamming him into the ground.

As soon as I was standing though, the third senior grabbed my shirt, so I grabbed onto his arm and the front of his shirt before hooking my left foot around his left knee, swinging him too, to the ground. I sniffed and rubbed my nose as the three seniors groaned, before turning to Tsuna, who hid behind an angry Gokudera as I bowed.

"Sorry to bother you."

I went past them and towards the dojo, but paused when Tsuna called out from behind me.

"T-T-Thank you, Takeo-san!"

I smiled a bit and lifted my hand lazily before heading in to take my judo test. Thankfully, I passed and my father made my favorite food to celebrate my new black belt. As the days dragged on though, I noticed that something seemed off with Yamamoto. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something about his smile that seemed a little forced to me. Enough so, that I actually asked Hana to go ahead and eat lunch without me and I plopped down at his desk with a store-bought yakisoba bread and my usual thermos of coffee, surprising him.

"Hm? I thought you were going to eat lunch with Hana-san today, Takeo-kun."

"Changed my mind." I muttered, taking a large bite from my food and he chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh! Well, alright!"

He started eating from his own bento and I eyed him suspiciously as his smile faltered and his gaze sort of drifted off. This wasn't the usual Yamamoto behavior, but I didn't want to pry either and turned my gaze down to the desk as I crumpled up my trash.

"You can talk to me if you want, Takeshi-kun." I said, moving to pour some of my coffee into the thermos lid. "I won't say anything if you don't want me to."

I sipped at my drink and peered an eye open at him just as he smacked me hard on the shoulder with a grin; making my coffee slosh onto my chin.

"Thanks, Takeo-kun! I might do that!" He then noticed my slightly annoyed look as I set my cup down and wiped the coffee off my face with a handkerchief. "Ah, sorry. Heh heh."

We went quiet and simply enjoyed our lunch for a moment, before his eyes drifted to the windows beside us and he let out an uncharacteristic sigh.

"Neh, what should I do, Takeo-kun? No matter how much I practice baseball, I can't seem to live up to everyone's expectations. At this rate, I won't be able to play start."

I went to say something, but the bell rang and Yamamoto laughed as he pulled me up from out of my seat.

"Never mind, Takeo-kun! I was just saying stuff! Come on, PE is next and I heard we're playing baseball today!"

"Ah, but Takeshi-kun—"

I didn't get to finish, because I realized he wasn't listening and I softly sighed as we went off to get changed into our gym clothes. I understood now though, where I was at in the plot and wondered if I should leave things alone again this time too. I didn't want to because Yamamoto was my friend, but I also wasn't sure what I _could_ do. I set the matter aside for now as our class and the neighboring one were split up into teams; myself ending up on Yamamoto's. Of course, Tsuna was the only one left at the end of it all and no one seemed to want him.

"I'm saying _you_ can have Dame-Tsuna on your team."

"No way! We don't want to lose."

"He was amazing at volleyball, but we know he sucks at baseball."

I hung off Yamamoto's shoulders, yawning. "Neh, Takeshi-kun, how about he joins our team?"

"Hm?" His face broke out into a smile. "Good idea, Takeo-kun!" He turned to Tsuna. "Isn't it alright? Just join our team."

"Are you serious, Yamamoto-kun? You don't have to let that loser in. We already have Takeo-san."

I frowned at his accusing words, but didn't defend myself. I'd long since stopped getting into petty fights with people.

"Don't be stingy. I just have to keep them from hitting, right?" He smiled. "And I like Takeo-kun! He's funny!"

"Well, if Yamamoto-kun is saying so… Alright."

Tsuna joined our team and sat on the bench beside me as he watched Yamamoto hit the ball out of the school yard.

"Oh, so sorry!" Yamamoto apologies as he ran the bases.

"Pft, you should use one arm." The pitcher from the other team grumbled lightly, but I couldn't really pay attention before I suddenly fell asleep; leaning on the panicking Tsuna beside me.

* * *

Tsuna panicked as Takeo leaned heavily on him, completely asleep and he begged the Gods that he wouldn't wake up. Takeo had always been a scary person to him ever since he'd seen him beat up that kid in elementary. It was only later that he understood that he'd done it to help him from the bullies that were picking on him, but that didn't really make him look any less scary in the mind of an eight year old Tsuna. Not only that, but the way Takeo looked at people sent shivers up his spine. He had understood the reason those rumors spread about him, even now. He'd often seen the boy reading a book in _English_ and if that didn't scream pretentious, Tsuna wasn't sure what did. Plus the fact that he slept through class sometimes and still managed to get good grades, but not once did the teachers stop him or attempt to wake him, which he found odd. But little things started bringing him to Tsuna's attention.

He noticed that Takeo answered a lot of questions in class when it seemed no one else wanted to bother, and as strange as that was, Tsuna got the feeling he was doing it for his sake. After all, Tsuna was certain that the teacher would have picked on him more if Takeo didn't offer to answer the questions as often as he did. And then there was how he helped him with Mochida, both when he confessed to Kyoko _and_ when they actually fought. Not to mention the time with the three seniors, and that scared him to death. He hadn't known that Takeo was that strong, but it had taken him a while before he figured out that Takeo had saved him a lot of trouble by fighting those seniors. He'd barely managed to call out his thanks and there was a part of him that actually sort of _liked_ the odd freshman. Especially after he realized that Takeo was a lot like him, without many friends and a number of poor rumors going out around him. They were both sort of the losers of the school, so Tsuna had tried to get over his fear of him and invite him to lunch multiple times, but the guy was just _way_ too scary and Tsuna chickened out every time. Even now, when the guy was asleep, Tsuna was shaking like a leaf until Yamamoto headed over with a laugh.

"Haha, looks like Takeo-kun fell asleep again, eh?"

Yamamoto, bless his soul, tipped Takeo the other way so that he was lying on the bench instead of Tsuna, and sat down at his feet.

"Heh, he's a funny guy, don't you think?" Yamamoto grinned. "Don't know why people say such bad things about him. He's really a good guy. Helps me study sometimes."

"R-Really?" Tsuna stuttered out, eyeing Takeo and wondering how someone with such a blank look even while _sleeping_ , could count as a nice guy. "H-He's kind of scary."

"Hm, I suppose he looks a little scary." Yamamoto admitted. "He's a big softy though. I saw him staring excitedly at some kittens in a pet shop window once."

Yamamoto laughed, but Tsuna paled, imagining the scene and not seeing how Takeo could appear excited about _kittens_ , of all things. Yamamoto bumped into Tsuna then, and Tsuna realized that was because Takeo had woken up and was pushing his shoulder with his foot and an annoyed expression on his face.

"Oi, don't go telling people about that. It was one time."

"Haha, sorry, sorry!" Yamamoto said, hardly looking apologetic as Takeo clicked his tongue and got up as one of the guys called him up to bat.

"Stupid baseball nut with your happy-go-lucky attitude." He grumbled and Tsuna expected Yamamoto to get upset for his comment, but he just went on laughing.

"Haha, don't mind that! He's only kidding! He's always a little cranky when he wakes up."

"A-Ah..." Tsuna said, turning to watch Takeo as he went up to bat, looking rather professional with his stance.

The ball was thrown and Takeo swung, making Tsuna wonder how the other students considered him a loser, but he understood a second later. Takeo _had_ swung, but stopped the bat and only allowed the ball to tap it and tumble a foot or so in front of him before making a mad dash for the first base. Complaints and groans came up from the other team who had to rush forward and grab the ball, but Takeo managed to make it all the way to third before having to stop. Even then, he managed to steal the final base before anyone could react and was soon taking Yamamoto's place as he went up to bat again. Tsuna felt nervous as all hell, but felt that he should say something and spoke up shakily.

"U-Um, good job, T-Takeo-san."

Takeo glanced at him and blinked before looking back towards the field as Yamamoto hit another home run. "Thanks… Tsuna-kun."

Tsuna was surprised at the change in honorific, but felt warmth creep in on him and he looked down at the floor with a small smile.

"Y-You're welcome… Takeo-kun."

A weight settled itself on his head and he stiffened in surprise as the hand ruffling his hair suddenly stopped and disappeared. Looking up, Tsuna was surprised to see Takeo with a hand over his mouth and a pink tint to his cheeks as he avoided his questioning gaze.

"A-Ah… s-sorry. I just… you looked… I couldn't help myself."

A thoroughly embarrassed Takeo was _not_ something Tsuna expected to see, and Tsuna began to blush too as he realized just how wrong he had been about Takeo. He didn't get a chance to respond though, before Yamamoto came back and it was Tsuna's turn to bat; only witnessing Yamamoto teasing Takeo before being pushed off the bench by the gruff looking teen who only grew more embarrassed at being caught. None of that mattered by the end of the day though, because their team had lost and that meant any and all disappointment went on Tsuna.

"It's your fault, Dame-Tsuna!"

"That's why I didn't want him in the team!"

"Sweep the field by yourself!"

"Do it seriously!"

"Loser!"

Tsuna sighed as the guys left to go change and wondered if he should just leave and ignore their empty threats, when a voice called out from behind him.

"Help has arrived!"

He turned around in shock. "Yamamoto-kun?! T-Takeo-kun?!"

Both teens were heading over to help him sweep up and Tsuna fidgeted nervously.

"Sorry, it's all my fault. Just when you let me in the team..."

"Don't worry about it." Yamamoto hummed. "It's only PE. I'm counting on you, my target stock."

Tsuna looked at him in confusion and Takeo lightly bopped the baseball nut on the head with the end of his broom.

"He means, he's curious about you."

Yamamoto nodded while absentmindedly rubbing his head where he'd been hit. "Yeah! Aren't you amazing lately? Like in the kendo battle and the volleyball tournament? I've got you checked in my book."

"Eh?!" Tsuna gaped in shock, before getting embarrassed. "Oh, uh..."

He wasn't really sure what to say about Yamamoto's compliments, but Yamamoto's smile slipped and Tsuna went silent as the taller teen spoke.

"In comparison, I just play baseball like it's all I know."

"What?" Tsuna said in disbelief, not understanding why Yamamoto say that as a bad thing. "What're you talking about? It's that baseball skill that's amazing."

"It's not going that well." Yamamoto said, downtrodden. "Lately, no matter how much I practice, my average is dropping and my fielding is screwing up. At this rate, it'll be the first time I don't start since I began playing baseball. Tsuna-kun… what should I do?"

"Eh?! You're asking me?!" Tsuna turned to Takeo, only to see the teen fast asleep and leaning precariously on his broom handle.

"Just kidding!" Yamamoto grinned, drawing Tsuna's attention back to him. "Lately, you're just so reliable. So I just..."

Tsuna felt bad about how Yamamoto thought he was all that when in reality it was because of Reborn that he was doing so well lately, so he desperately tried to come up with some advice.

"I guess… more effort is the way to go… I think."

"Yeah!" Yamamoto cheered and Takeo woke up, blinking dazedly at the sudden noise.

"You know, I thought that was it too." Yamamoto smiled at Tsuna, draping an arm over his shoulder. "We agree, as I expected."

"R-Really?"

"Alright, today I'm remaining here and practicing like hell." Yamamoto laughed and Takeo spoke up, gaze serious.

"Takeshi-kun."

"Hm?"

Takeo blinked at him before resuming the sweeping of the field. "Don't push yourself too hard. While it's good to have goals and people who support you, live up to your _own_ expectations, not theirs. 'Do not lift a rock only to drop it on your own foot'. 'Fire does not produce fire. Eventually it reduces all to ash'."

Yamamoto blinked, tiling his head in confusion. "Huh? I'm not going to drop a rock on my foot, Takeo-kun. And it's not smart to play with fire, you know."

Takeo sighed. "Chinese proverbs are lost on the simple minded… Just be careful and don't practice too hard, Takeshi-kun."

He chuckled. "Haha, alright! Thanks for the advice, Takeo-kun!"

"Yeah, yeah." Takeo drawled out, though Tsuna swore he saw that same embarrassed red in his cheeks from before.

* * *

I woke up abruptly, covered in a light sheen of sweat as the screams of the plane passengers slowly faded from my mind and I tried to catch my breath. It wasn't often I had nightmares of when I died—thanks to my narcolepsy usually knocking me out cold—but I'd been troubled lately due to Yamamoto's odd behavior and had been sleeping on and off through the night. Begrudgingly, I got up and headed downstairs, finding a note from my father saying he had to go to work early today and I felt bad that he was working as hard as he was to support us. There wasn't much I could do though, students from the middle school weren't allowed to get part-time jobs and I'd yet to meet Hibari and honestly hoped I wouldn't. Something told me we wouldn't really get along and that I would be in trouble if he picked a fight with me. _Especially should I fall asleep part way through it. He might very well bite me to death._ A shiver went down my spine as I walked to school, looking around curiously when I didn't spot Yamamoto. He usually bumped into me about half-way there and we walked the rest of the way together; him chatting my ear off about baseball and other school related things.

That worry in my stomach went up tenfold as I continued to not see him, even as I entered the school and I struggled to remember what happened in the plot. I'd written down what I _could_ remember in a notebook at home, but either this wasn't something that happened in the plot, or it was something that happened in the manga and _not_ the anime. _This is what I get for my short attention span. I hardly ever read the manga except for the bits_ after _the anime ended. Anything before that is just sort of a jumbled mess. I know this has_ something _to do with him overworking himself, but I can't for the life of me remember what happened to get him hanging out with Tsuna._ I furrowed my brows as I sat beside Tsuna and folded my arms over my chest, not seeing the way Tsuna shook in fear at the expression on my face, when someone rushed into the room looking worried.

"Hey everyone! Yamamoto-kun is about to jump off the roof!"

I immediately stood up, knocking my chair back as the man explained further to the other students.

"When he stayed after school practicing yesterday, he went too far and broke his arm!"

"Shit." I cursed, launching myself over the desk and bolting up to the roof.

By the time I got there, students were already gathered around and I—once again—wondered where all the damn teachers were who should have been trying to do something about this.

"Takeshi-kun!" I shouted, pushing past the crowd of students as even more came up onto the roof.

He turned slightly towards me and gave me the smallest of smiles, though it was a sad, broken one and not his usual happy grin.

"Takeo-kun, sorry. I know I said I'd be careful, but..."

I shook my head, fear welling up in me. "No, that doesn't matter, you idiot! Look at what you're doing! One little slump doesn't mean you should off yourself! Are you stupid?!"

He chuckled bitterly, turning away. "Sorry, Takeo-kun, but what choice do I have?"

"Many! Infinite! Takeshi-kun, _please_! You can't—"

I suddenly lost feeling in my legs and I cursed the timing of my cataplexy attack, knowing that my fear for Yamamoto's life had probably triggered it and I fell to my knees as I tried to get my body working again; unable to form words now as my voice slurred.

"T-Take… shi."

I fought against the sudden attack, only managing to keep myself somewhat upright, though I swayed a bit. Yamamoto looked worried, but didn't come back to the safe side of the fence and a figure suddenly flew out from the crowd and fell; sitting up to reveal a stunned Tsuna.

"Eh… Ah… W-What do I do?" He panicked and I tried to say something, but I still couldn't move and I mentally cursed my body as Yamamoto faced him.

"If you came to stop me, it's no use. You should be able to understand my feelings."

"Huh?"

Yamamoto turned away with a sad look, as I struggled to figure out what he meant and to get my body working again. "For someone that's called Dame-Tsuna all the time, you can understand the feeling of preferring to die over failing at everything, right?"

"Huh? I, um..." Tsuna looked down. "No. You and I are different, so..."

I grit my teeth, finally starting to get some feeling back in my limbs as I realized Tsuna was making things worse.

"How arrogant of the recently awesome Tsuna-sama." Yamamoto snapped angrily. "So you're a fine student now as opposed to me."

"Wha—?! N-No, that's wrong!" Tsuna said, waving his hands. "It's because I'm no good! Unlike you, I've never put effort into one single thing. I arrogantly told you 'effort' and such, but I've really done nothing. What I said yesterday was a lie. I'm sorry." He bowed, going on to explain even further as I pushed myself back up onto my feet carefully.

"Saying you're so frustrated that you want to die, or you want to die because of a career ending accident… Unlike you, I've never had those kinds of intense thoughts." Tsuna said, making me wince as I realized I was the same way. "In fact, I'm a pathetic person who would have regrets when dying… thinking if I'm going to die then I should've done it with dying will. Thinking it's a waste to die from something like this… So I can't understand your feelings. Sorry." He suddenly turned around to make a bolt for it. "Sorry!"

"Wait, Tsuna-kun." Yamamoto grabbed the back of Tsuna's shirt, but with the momentum of Tsuna falling back, I realized that they might very well fall off the roof and I dove forward.

"Takeshi! Look out!"

I grabbed Tsuna and yanked the front of his shirt to pull him back up, before scrambling with my other arm to grab Yamamoto as he started to fall backwards. With the weight of Yamamoto pulling down on my arm though, I fell to my stomach and felt something tear in my arm before there was a painful pop and I shouted in pain as I felt myself starting to be pulled over the edge of the roof. Tears pricked my eyes at the white hot fire traveling up my arm and shoulder, but I held on to Yamamoto's arm for dear life; scrambling with my other arm to try and grab a hold of something to keep us _both_ from falling over, but there was nothing within reach. Someone grabbed my ankle just as we slipped over, but they let out a familiar squeal as they _too_ were pulled off the roof and the three of us fell. Fear took over me quickly and I felt my body go slack again as the cataplexy happened a second time just as I heard the crack of glass and a shout.

"Mid-air reborn! Saving Yamamoto-kun and Takeo-kun with my dying will!"

"Tsuna-kun?!"

I felt Tsuna grab me and Yamamoto, skidding against the side of the building to try and stop us, before rotating himself to protect us. I missed what happened next as I suddenly fell asleep, but I woke up to see Yamamoto and Tsuna looking at me worriedly.

"A-Are you okay, Takeo-kun?" Tsuna asked, and I felt pain shoot up my arm, reaching over and clutching it in pain as Yamamoto gave me a guilty look.

"I'll call an ambulance. I think you dislocated your shoulder trying to stop me from falling."

Tsuna helped me up and I struggled to keep calm and prevent yet another full body collapse as Yamamoto hung up his phone and looked over me in worry.

"I'm sorry, Takeo-kun. That was really stupid what I tried to do..."

"Y-You idiot." I grimaced, glaring at him and making Tsuna flinch before I shifted my gaze to the ground in embarrassment as heat traveled up the back of my neck. "Do you know how worried I was?"

He chuckled a little and I frowned at him.

"This is no time to be laughing, you baseball nut."

"Heh, but I can't help it." He smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry I worried you, Takeo-kun and thanks a bunch for trying to save me."

"A-And me too." Tsuna said, looking sheepish and I sighed; cringing as my shoulder sent another wave of pain through me.

"Yeah well… Just don't do it again, morons." I grumbled, flushing a bright red as Yamamoto ruffled my hair.

"Haha, okay, Takeo-kun."

"Takeo." I muttered, making him tilt his head in a way that made my heart pound against my ribcage.

 _Damn girly emotions._

"Hm?"

"C-Call me Takeo."

His grin widened as the ambulance pulled up and the paramedics started heading our way. "Okay, Takeo! Then you can call me Takeshi!"

I nodded and turned to Tsuna then, ignoring how he flinched away nervously. "You too, Tsuna."

"A-Ah. O-Okay, T-T-Takeo."

I rolled my eyes at his nervousness, before getting taken away by the paramedics to have my shoulder fixed, flinching when I wondered what my father would do when he found out what happened.


	3. Chapter 3

Weeks had passed and my shoulder had healed up quite nicely, though the doctors said to be careful with judo or bojutsu practice for another week to make sure, so I was a _bit_ cranky. I had twice the usual dose of coffee though and _two_ thermoses in my bag, so I hoped that would keep me covered for the day. Yamamoto was awfully cheerful however and he grinned and waved at me as I met up with him at the corner.

"Yo, Takeo!"

"Takeshi." I greeted and he eyed me, leaning over to look at me from another angle.

"Something up?"

I felt my lip twitch up in a small snarl. "I can't practice judo _or_ bojutsu for another week because of my shoulder. I need to hit something."

He chuckled, not bothered by my sudden need for violence. "Haha, you sound like Hibari-san!"

"Hm." I huffed, not appreciating the comparison, just as we spotted Tsuna a few feet in front of us.

Yamamoto and I headed over and greeted him.

"Yo, Tsuna."

"Takeshi! T-Takeo, morning."

"Hm." I grunted making Tsuna shrink in onto himself as I mentally chided myself for making him uncomfortable.

Yamamoto eased up the tense atmosphere though, slamming a hand into my back and very nearly making me topple over face first into the pavement, before I straightened up and glared at him.

"Haha, don't mind him. He's just mad he can't practice his judo!"

"A-Ah." Tsuna said, relaxing a bit as Yamamoto leaned on his shoulder and eyed him.

"Lack of sleep? You have bags under your eyes."

"Eh… ah… some stuff happened." Tsuna said and I snorted, ignoring the look he shot me because I _knew_ what had happened this time.

 _Lambo had probably shown up at his place._ I mused, ignoring the murderous intent coming from wherever Gokudera was hiding as Yamamoto elbowed Tsuna. _Ah, but what am_ I _going to do?_ I frowned. Things had been becoming difficult for me. Not because of the plot really, but more because of my stupid competing mentalities. Being a thirty year old woman in the body of a hormonal teenage boy was _not_ the best experience, especially now that puberty had started and I was slowly reaching Yamamoto's height. Already, the top of my head went up to his chin when only a few months ago I had barely gone up to his shoulders; leading me to have to deal with monstrous growing pains. But this also meant that my eyes would start to drift towards the female population of the school and my female mind would make my thoughts drift to the male population as well. This did _not_ help me at all and I found myself cursing more under my breath as I realized that I might end up being bisexual at this rate.

Not that that was a bad thing, but it just didn't sit well with my mind being a woman and imaging _things_ with other women. _It's bad enough Takeshi is catching my eye and Tsuna is just too damn cute for his own good, but I'd rather not start liking women if I could._ I winced, realizing that in this country, being gay or bi might not exactly be a good thing either. I wasn't sure, having lived in the States my past life, but for all I knew Japan might not be the best place to have those sorts of relationships, much less Namimori. I shook my head, placing my face in my hand. _Ugh, I need to stop thinking about it. I'm in_ middle school, _dammit! Older woman mind or not._

"You okay, Takeo?" Yamamoto asked and I waved him off as I went to sit in my chair in the classroom; not even realizing when we entered said room.

"Fine. Headache."

He pat me roughly on the back again. "Alright. Take care of yourself. Don't need you getting sick after just barely having your shoulder healed up."

"Hm." I grumbled, plopping down and hoping that I'd be able to keep awake for the rest of the day.

* * *

I woke up just as the final bell rang and mentally cursed at having fallen asleep again, being sure to check in with the teacher to see if I missed out on anything important that I _didn't_ know, but it was just math and I'd learned everything once already, so he let me go. I walked through the halls and pulled my shoes out from my shoe box, only to pause when I turned around and spotted Reborn standing in the only doorway out of here.

"Um… hello." I greeted bluntly, though my heart was hammering away in worry as to what he could possibly want.

"Ciaossu." He chirped, not moving as I stood before him.

"Can I… pass?"

Reborn smirked and I felt a chill go down my spine as he tilted his hat down a bit. "Takeo Hideyoshi, could you come with me for a bit?"

"Um… I guess?" I said, hesitating a little, but only because I knew if I said no, he'd probably kill me on the spot.

There was just that look in his eyes and the aura he gave off that let me know he was dead serious and wouldn't hesitate to off me, if need be. And let me tell you now, knowing who he was—the greatest hitman of all time—only made it that much harder to keep myself from collapsing in fear and worry for my life. The baby hitman started walking towards the grounds around the side of the school and I begrudgingly followed. We showed up as Tsuna was speaking with Yamamoto, who spotted us heading over and gestured to Reborn.

"Who's that? Your little brother?"

"Eh?"

Tsuna turned to see Reborn and I, and panicked as Reborn greeted Yamamoto.

"Ciaossu."

"Geh! Reborn!" Tsuna then turned to me as I blinked. "T-Takeo!"

Reborn ignored him. "I'm not his little brother." He clarified to Yamamoto. "I'm Reborn, the Vongola Family hitman."

Tsuna panicked, looking between Yamamoto and I in worry, but Yamamoto just knelt down to Reborn's level and laughed.

"Haha, I see. Well, I apologize."

"Eh?!" Tsuna freaked.

Yamamoto just kept smiling. "It must be troublesome to be a hitman at such a young age."

"Not really." Reborn replied. "You're going to join the Vongola family too."

"H-Hey, Reborn!" Tsuna said, worried.

"Come on, he's only a kid." Yamamoto said as I internally winced. "Didn't you do it when you were young too? Pretending to be cops and heroes?"

Tsuna looked stunned as Yamamoto lifted Reborn up to his shoulder.

"There."

"The 10th head of the family is Tsuna." Reborn went on and Yamamoto nodded happily.

"Oh, now that is a good choice of person. Okay, sure. Then let me in this Vongola family too." He said, but the look on his face was serious and I felt bad for more than one reason.

Something told me that Yamamoto really _did_ think this was a game, but with how serious he was being I wondered if he actually knew that what Reborn was offering was a serious deal. _Maybe he just wants to find something other than baseball to depend on?_ I wondered, before turning my gaze back on Reborn. _And then there's him._ I swallowed thickly, not liking the uncomfortable feeling I got from the baby. As I said before, he unnerved me, but there was something that made my heart go out to the guy. Because I _knew_ what he was going through, in a way. He was an older guy trapped in the body of a baby and I was an older woman trapped in the body of a teenager still in the process of growing up. Neither of us were happy about our situation, but we'd learned to live with it and I began to question some things. _Does he get angry when people kneel down to his level? Or treat him like a child talking nonsense? Picking him up and putting him on their shoulders and such? Doesn't that bother him? Not that he'd show it if he did, but…_ I felt my heart ache for the hitman. _I know what that's like and… it hurts. It really just… hurts._

"—eo. Takeo!"

I blinked, looking away from Reborn who—I now noticed—was eyeing me suspiciously and I looked over at a worried Tsuna and a smiling Yamamoto.

"You sleeping again? I know you said you can do it standing up sometimes."

Gokudera looked at Yamamoto like he was a moron. "What idiot sleeps standing up with their eyes wide open, you moron?!"

I lifted my hand, drawing Gokudera's attention to me. "I do. I have narcolepsy."

Gokudera's glare softened slightly and he begrudgingly turned away and stuffed his hands in his pockets with a huff.

"Hm, sorry then, I guess."

I shrugged lightly and turned back to Yamamoto. "And no. I just spaced out for a moment. Why?"

He pointed to Reborn on his shoulder. "He said you should join the mafia game too."

I eyed the hitman with a raised brow. "I don't think that's a very good idea."

Reborn blinked, smiling innocently. "Why not?"

I deadpanned. "What if I fell asleep in the middle of the… game?"

"Then Tsuna will protect you."

I gave the skittish boy a look as he panicked once more, shouting at Reborn who simply bounced a kick off his head before flipping and landing back on Yamamoto's shoulder; turning to me.

"Family members protect each other."

I winced at the mention of family, a brief flash of my old family passing through my head though most of their faces were distorted and fading, before my father came to mind and how dim the house was without my mother around. And, as much as I _did_ want to be a part of the action—so to speak—I also didn't want to screw things up plot wise and knew I could only do that if I stayed away from the group. After all, getting involved now might mean that I'd be taking the place of another guardian and if that happened, then I wouldn't know what to do. _Every Vongola guardian was important in the plot and played a big part. Sun, rain, cloud, mist, storm, and lightning. They all supported the sky flame and if I get thrown in… that balance won't be there. Ryohei, Takeshi, Hibari, Mukuro, Gokudera, Lambo. One of their parts might disappear and I'd be forced to fill it. I would have to take on their role and… I just…_

"I can't do that." I said, not realizing I'd said it out loud until Tsuna sighed in relief and I caught sight of Reborn's serious look. "I'm sorry, but it's not my place."

I turned and started to head off, but froze when I heard the distinct click of a gun being cocked.

"R-Reborn!" Tsuna stuttered out in fear and I turned my head to look over my shoulder at the hitman.

He'd jumped off Yamamoto's shoulder and was now standing on the ground with his gun aimed at me and his fedora tipped down to shadow his face. He scared me, sure. I could feel the muscles in my legs growing weaker by the second, but I fought the cataplexy off as best I could and stared at him with an almost sad look.

"I wasn't asking, Takeo-san." He said seriously as Tsuna looked between the two of us, skin a pale ashy white.

"I'm sorry, Reborn-san." I replied, turning away and forcing myself to begin walking once more. "But I _can't_."

I heard a huff from him as I rounded the corner and promptly tripped as my wobbly ankles caught on one another; falling into the dirt as I allowed my body to go slack for a moment and I tried to calm myself down. It took a second, but I was able to do it and headed home alone, determined to stay out of this mess. _Even if it means I lose my friends._

* * *

I felt bad. Horrible, really, but it had to be done. I was avoiding Tsuna and Yamamoto as best I could and it had been nearly a month. I'd ditched Yamamoto when he asked me to join him at Tsuna's house weeks ago for a studying session, lying and saying I needed to make dinner that day for my father. Then I proceeded to go to school earlier and head home as soon as my judo class was done; leaving no room for any of the two to bother me. I hadn't been seeing Reborn either, though I could sometimes feel him watching me and promptly avoided any hallways that smelled of coffee. This also meant, of course, that I had started eating my lunches alone and usually in a bathroom somewhere. Guilt only added to the pressure on my shoulders when Reborn and Tsuna had popped up in the dojo to have a boxing match with the ever-loud Ryohei.

Things with the plot were going by faster than ever though, and I knew it wouldn't be long before I somehow got dragged into something, but I was doing my best to postpone that for as long as I could. I didn't _want_ to get hurt or have to hurt someone else and that meant not being involved in Reborn's little ploy to get me to join the Vongola. What really scared me though, was that he hadn't done anything yet and it had been _months_ since I'd seen him. Even Tsuna and Yamamoto weren't bothering me at this point, though they did send me worried looks every once in a while. It had gotten so bad that I'd gotten sick the week of the sport's festival and had to stay home with a really bad flu the whole week. My father was worried, but he had to work, so I was forced to just deal with it however I could on my own and it was that week that I finally broke down after years and years of forcing myself to stay strong. Thirty-eight-year-old woman or not, everything had grown to be too much for me and isolating myself only seemed to make things worse. I'd grown paranoid and lost weight, throwing myself into my martial arts practices and my narcolepsy was as bad as ever. Eating had become a chore and even getting up was getting harder and harder.

Things got better after a bit. My father had noticed I wasn't being my usual self and we'd gone on vacation for a week or so to relax a bit before returning. I'd thought some things over when we did, realizing that distancing myself from my friends hadn't exactly been the right decision to avoiding Reborn and his proposal to join the Vongola and that had been the main cause of me having a mental break. I'd gotten lonely. Lonely and paranoid that Reborn would jump out of nowhere and assault me for telling him 'no'. It was already too late for me to not be involved with Tsuna and the others, so there was no need to distance myself from them. So I decided to patch things up a bit when Reborn and Tsuna's birthdays came around. Which explained why I was biting my bottom lip and fidgeting uncomfortably outside Tsuna's home, trying to get the courage to push the doorbell. Yeah, that's right. Big ol' scary Takeo Hideyoshi was too chicken to ring a doorbell and make up with the very same friends he'd been avoiding for months.

I glanced at the two gifts I had—one wrapped in dark blue paper with a yellow ribbon for Tsuna, and the other wrapped in black paper with an orange ribbon for Reborn—and only grew more anxious as worry crept in and made my knees weak. _What if they don't like them? What if Reborn tries to kill me for saying 'no' before? O-Or what if he tries to get me to join the Vongola again?_ I paled, feeling my knees shake and threaten to give out from under me as I was forced to lean against the house to stay upright. _What if none of them want me here after what I did? I-I_ did _avoid them for months. I-I wouldn't want me around either. But what could I tell them? 'Oh yeah, I was just having a mental breakdown because I'm a thirty-eight-year-old woman trapped in a teenage boy's body and I know all about your future as the Vongola and just didn't want to die'?_ I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down as my legs slowly stopped shaking and I could stand on my own two feet again. _No, stop it. You're here, right now, and this is what matters. Making up with your friends and celebrating two people's birthdays. Now ring the bell._ I reached a hand out, hesitating only slightly before ringing the bell and hearing someone heading to the door. Tsuna was the one who answered it and as he looked at me in shock, I felt the heat of embarrassment travel up to my cheeks as I spoke in a shaky voice.

"U-Um, I… w-wanted to say happy birthday, even though yours is tomorrow a-and happy birthday to R-Reborn-san too." I said nervously, swallowing thickly as I forced myself to look at Tsuna before bowing my head deeply. "A-And I'm _really_ sorry a-about avoiding you guys. I-I was having a bad time and I just… sorry."

I shoved the two gifts into his arms before turning around and making to leave when he called out to me.

"U-Um, Takeo?"

I paused, frozen to the spot as those bad thoughts drifted through my head once more. _They hate you. He doesn't want your gift. He's angry at you. Just run. Run!_

"You don't have to go, you know."

I turned to Tsuna in surprise. "W-What?"

He nodded towards the house. "You can, um, come in and celebrate, if you'd like."

I frowned in confusion as he stiffened at the look. "You… want me to come in?"

It was his turn to fidget, it seems. "A-Ah, yeah. I-I-If you want, I mean!"

"You're not… mad that I avoided you guys?"

He smiled, surprisingly enough, rubbing the back of his head with a hand, switching the two gifts over to one arm. "Well, it was a little surprising, but I-I understand. You were having a rough time, right? Takeshi and I were just worried, is all."

I couldn't help the smile that slipped onto my face, missing the shocked look Tsuna gave me as I bobbed my head.

"Thanks, Tsuna."

"N-No problem." He said, before allowing me to enter the house. "We're, uh, upstairs in my bedroom. Here."

He passed me back the gifts and I took them as he led the way and opened the door to reveal everyone gathered around a table in the center of the room; all eyes immediately going to us as Tsuna looked around nervously.

"Um, this is Takeo Hideyoshi. He's a friend of ours." Tsuna started gesturing to some of the people there who I wasn't supposed to know and introduced them. "That's my mom, Haru from a neighboring school, Bianchi—Gokudera's sister—and Lambo."

I bowed my head a bit in greeting. "Nice to meet you."

"And you too!" Tsuna's mom smiled pleasantly. "It's always nice to meet Tsuna's friends. Just call me Nana."

I nodded and sat between Yamamoto and Reborn begrudgingly as Nana smiled and the group turned to a sickly Gokudera.

"Ah! Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna panicked. "Are you okay?"

"I did remember your birthday, 10th." He panted out as I searched through my pockets for what I'd brought him. "But it's over for me."

"Eh?"

"Gokudera-san." I said, making the sickly boy turn to me with a glare as I pointed at Bianchi—who I'd handed the orange tinted goggles.

He looked at her and furrowed his brows as his stomach ache disappeared and he pat himself down in surprise.

"Wha..."

I explained. "I assumed that if you could only see part of her face you wouldn't get sick."

He looked over at Bianchi and touched his stomach with furrowed brow, but didn't feel sick and begrudgingly nodded his head in silent thanks.

"Looks like he'll be able to participate in the Vongolian birthday party after all." Reborn said in his squeaky voice, myself having to grit my teeth to keep from flinching at his sudden voice.

Normally it wouldn't have bothered me, but with my paranoia up tenfold and the fact that the little guy had _no_ presence at _all_ , made me jumpy. _Not only that, but I shouldn't have known about Gokudera's problem with his sister. Hope no one realizes that._

"Vongolian birthday party?" Tsuna questioned and Reborn explained.

"Yes, in our family, during the odd year birthdays, we have to do the legendary Vongolian birthday party. The rules are simple. The person who'd celebrating a birthday is going to give scores to the participants' 'present' or 'performance'. And then, the participant with the highest score earns an elegant present."

"G-Game?"

"But the one with the lowest score will die." Reborn concluded and that gave Tsuna ample reason to panic.

"No way! What's up with that?! Why come to celebrate and be killed?!"

"Those are the rules." Reborn replied.

"I can't agree to that!"

I tapped my finger on my knee warily, wondering if I should just leave my presents and ditch now while I had a chance.

"Everybody secretly prepared just for this day."

Tsuna gave him a look. "That's why they've been acting weird."

Yamamoto nudged him though with a chuckle. "It's only child's play. Let's go along with it. Even Takeo's here."

"Don't drag me into this." I grumbled, turning to Nana. "You have any coffee?"

She nodded with a smile and went to get it as Reborn made the first point announcement.

"Since Takeshi brought the sushi, he receives 80 points." Reborn put a small Yamamoto shaped magnet on a board. "The scores will be posted on the Vongola judge board."

"W-Where did he get this..." Tsuna breathed out, though Yamamoto was still grinning away.

"80 points isn't bad."

"But what's with this kind of situation?!" Tsuna panicked as Haru blushed.

"Cheer up, Tsuna-san! In order to become the wife of a mafia boss, Haru will get used to this kind of an event. Okay?"

"What the heck are you saying?!"

Haru paid no mind and instead began digging through her bag. "Since Reborn-chan's suit has always been black, I've made a white suit."

"Wow." Yamamoto commented, my eyes slowly starting to droop before the scent of coffee came to my nose and I thanked Nana and drank deeply from the cup with a soft sigh as Haru held up the suit.

"It's target patterned!" She smiled, the suit and tie a crisp white with black targets printed on it.

"He'll be targeted too easily!" Tsuna blurted out and Haru paled.

"Hahi! Now that you mention it..."

"Thanks Haru." Reborn said though, taking the clothing. "I like these kinds of thrilling clothes."

"Reborn-chan..."

"85 points." He announced and she cheered happily as Bianchi stood up and I excused myself to go to the restroom; knowing that she was about to make the living room a disaster.

I splashed some water on my face and leaned against the sink with a heavy sigh, glancing up into the mirror with a wince at how haggard I looked. I still had bags under my eyes from my lack of sleep and my face was more gaunt than usual; my hair having lost some of its sheen. I don't remember what happened after that. My narcolepsy must have kicked in, because I had somehow ended up back in the living room as everyone panicked and began pulling swords out of the box Tsuna was twisted in. I got up and helped him, Yamamoto having to carry him out to the car so he could be taken to the hospital. Nana said we were more than welcome to stay though and I wondered if I should or if I should just leave while I had a chance of getting away before Reborn noticed me still around. _But then I can't give him or Tsuna their gifts…_ Just as I decided to head home and give them both their gifts tomorrow, Reborn spoke up from the ground beside me, making me flinch.

"What did you bring, Takeo?"

"I, uh… wasn't sure what you liked so I asked my dad for some help." I said, passing him the package and checking to see if Haru was around; since I knew she would disapprove of what I got him.

Reborn pulled off the black wrapping, opened the long box, and held up the bottle of alcohol with a curious look at the label.

"This is a good brand." He commented and I stuffed my hands in my pockets. "What made you think I'd want alcohol?"

I stiffened, mentally panicking because I realized I didn't really have a good answer to that other than blatantly pointing out that I knew things I shouldn't. Already I could feel his suspicious eyes on me and I swallowed thickly, spitting out the first thing that came to my head.

"Y-You just seem… different. O-Older than you look or… something."

Things grew tense and I struggled to keep from becoming fearful enough of him that my cataplexy would kick in, and I held up my gift to Tsuna.

"I'm going to go give Tsuna his gift. I'll, uh… see you. I guess."

He did nothing but tilt his fedora and I walked off; the moment I was out of sight, breaking into a run to get away from the extremely observant hitman.


End file.
